I took the chart from Scattered Tulips, condensed it, and ended up with the chart below. When I knitted it, it came out with a satisfyingly thick, open texture. I haven’t tried it with variegated yarn yet, but my suspicion is that it would work very well indeed with this structure.
I get a vague impression of flying birds when I look at this one. There’s another view of this stitch pattern from the side at the bottom of the post.
Periodically I like to try out techniques I haven’t used before and experiment with them. When I write about this, I call the posts my études, because they’re somewhat like the exercises musicians do for practicing.
I was browsing through my copy of Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury when my eye lit upon the Tunnel Eyelet stitch. I hadn’t really noticed it before, and when I read the instructions I was a little confused about how it worked. With many knitting instructions, I understand them better if I try them, so I did just that.
There’s a knitting stitch combination that I’ve seen called a gather, and I’ve mostly seen it in Estonian stitch patterns, though I’m guessing they get used elsewhere too. Essentially, they are a combination of a double decrease (or more) and a double increase (or more) happening at the same time.
It sounds more complicated than it is. Take the 3/3 gather. When making a k3tog decrease, the basic principle is to insert the needle through all three stitches as if they were one stitch, and then knit one stitch in that clump of stitches. The gather expands upon that: knit those three stitches together without removing them from the needle, then yarnover, then knit the three stitches together again. This is the same as working a KYOK at the same time as a k3tog. Start with three stitches, end with three stitches, but they’re gathered together.
But thinking of it as a decrease/increase started making my brain fizz.
Continue reading Gather together: permutations of a knitting stitch
I’ve been watching the numbers on my next Patreon goal with excitement – if I can get up to $75 a month income, I’m going to start making a second stitch pattern from my Patreon words each month. If you can support me at a dollar a month, you can help make this happen! Only thirteen dollars to go. (And I have some ideas percolating for some new goals after that which I think you’ll like.) Here is my Patreon page.
I talked a couple of weeks ago about wanting to share more swatches of the kinds of stitch patterns my needlework charts can be turned into. The swatch I’ve posted today is the result of taking the Mountain needlework chart, turning it sideways, and making a k/p stitch pattern from it. Each black square is purled on the right side and knit on the wrong side, and each white square is knit on the right side and purled on the wrong side.
Continue reading Two things: another texture post and a Patreon thing
For my birthday this year, I bought myself two books I’ve been yearning for: Sequence Knitting and the KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook. Both have to do, in rather different ways, with demystifying particular design processes, though sequence knitting is also a new method for knitting complicated patterns using extremely easy-to-memorize methods. I am pleased as can be with both these books. I’ve already learned a lot from both of them. I have so much to say about each of them that I can’t possibly review them both in one post.
Sequence Knitting: Simple Methods for Creating Complex Reversible Fabrics, by Cecelia Campochiaro. Sunnyvale, CA: Chroma Opaci, 2015. ISBN: 9780986338106, website: sequenceknitting.com, on Ravelry: Sequence Knitting
(I’ve fussed with color and focus.)
These are the two charts I worked out for combining all three words for those who want to work with all three. (These are all the posts about this project.) You’re welcome to use them for whatever you like. Use as many or as few of the words as you like (the blue lines mark the boundaries). The two versions are based on two different ways of charting the encoded letters. I don’t have the swatch for the chart on the left (which is silly – I know better than to rip out swatches!) so the swatch shows the chart on the right.
Speaking of mistakes, I’ve been making some while knitting my handspun swap yarn blanket. Since knitweaving is new to me, so are the mistakes that go with it. One such mistake reminded me of the kind of brioche stitch that has a slipped stitch and a yarn over that are knit together on the next row. This is not exactly that, but I thought I’d try it.
I like the boxes formed by the skinny yarn. They reminded me of ticky boxes.
First, I’d like to thank everyone for their sympathy last week. It really means a lot to me!
I usually try to include one lace pattern and one not, for the sake of those who don’t wear lace. I forgot last time, so here’s something to fill that gap.
I envisioned the pattern as charted, with the floats and the bulk of the purl blips on the front, but it turns out I like both sides equally. I worked it in both solid and variegated yarn because slip stitch patterns often work especially well with variegated. The solid is more subtle, especially on the mostly knit side – but I think it’s still a pleasing texture.
When designing textured stitches in particular, it’s always worth looking at both sides of the fabric. Sometimes you’ll find that you prefer the side that was meant to be hidden!
Continue reading Étude no. 3 — a Roll of the dice, version 2
This is my last post on encoding “Hug” in yarn. First I knitted lace, then I played with crochet, and now I’m going to finish up with some more knitting.
I discussed the mechanics of laying out this particular grid in the crochet post, but here it is one more time, stripped down a bit.
As with the crochet, sometimes the stitches work better with patterning on every row, and sometimes they do well to have a plain row in between. (Compare it with the lace chart, and you’ll see that the yarn overs go in the dark squares.)
A long time ago, I accidentally put my needle between the next two stitches, pulled a loop through, and then knit the next stitch. That’s interesting, I thought, but it’s not what I need right now. Later, I played around with it a bit more. I might or might not end up using it in a design, but it’s well worth sharing anyway.
I ended up finding the name for this kind of increase in Montse Stanley’s Knitter’s Handbook: loop increases, though she discusses them in the context of pulling a loop through a spot in your already knit fabric. I ended up liking this kind of effect better in any case (though you might decide differently).
A key thing to remember about this kind of increase is that you should be very sure to pull enough yarn through that the fabric isn’t puckered (unless that’s the effect you want). The further away from the needle you pull the yarn through, the longer the float will be, and the more likely it will be to snag on things.
Also, a loop like this doesn’t have to be an increase; you can knit it together with one of the stitches on your needle right away.
In the swatch above, I used loop increases to make a kind of feathery pattern. It turned out to be easiest to use a crochet hook for some of the stitches, though I don’t think one is really required. (An extra knitting needle or even a darning needle could be used, too.)
If you want to achieve the exact effect shown in the photo, here’s what I did:
(X marks the next spot you’ll be knitting in step 5.)Purl back (or knit the next round plain), then repeat the same maneuvers on the next round. I like the feathery effect this makes.
String Geekery 
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